[Karachi] The Pakistan floods have displaced millions of people. In Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, there are 84,000 registered IDPs in 54 relief camps. We visited one of the camps at Government School Kotwal, opposite the Dow Medical University. It is nominally a Government run facility but is being managed by volunteers from Pakistan People’s Party. There are around 650 people in the camp. At the time we visited there was a queue assembling for breakfast. We were met be Mr Rattilal, a government official, who was joined by PPP activists who were keen that we should know that PPP was mobilizing the bulk of the material support and volunteers for the camp. The government has little choice, given the scale of the disaster, than to welcome any such support. Several of the government run camps also operate in partnership with local NGOs, while other camps are run autonomously by political parties, religious organizations and relief agencies.
We met with several of the residents at the camp. Most are subsistence farmers or engaged in associated economic activity. Mohammad earns a living driving a donkey and cart. Both the donkey and the cart were washed away in the floods. Amadilal is a farmer. He described how suddenly the flood had arrived. Although they had heard reports of the floods further north, they didn’t expect it to reach their village. Flooding in nearby Dadu had already washed out the only local radio station so in the days preceding there was no reliable information. The flood arrived without warning at 4 o’clock in the morning and he had no choice but to get up and evacuate from the village his family of 22 members. One of the newest arrivals at the camp was a baby just seven days old. His mother had arrived at the camp heavily pregnant and given birth shortly after. The family had named the boy Zulfiqar after the founder of Pakistan Peoples Party, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
The maximum stay at this camp is three months and most arrivals are encouraged to return to the towns and villages within a month. Most of them are without work but some, especially the men, have been found temporary employment. The Government is offering a cash support and incentive scheme to encourage people to go home, once the waters have subsided. A total payment of 100,000 Rupees (about 1200 USD) is offered on the basis of the first 20 per cent up front and the remainder after they have returned home. The scheme is administered through the banks using a specially purposed ATM card.
We asked what media and communications were available to people staying at the camp. There is a single television set which is brought out to view on the courtyard in the evening, with loudspeakers to relay the sound. Fifty cellphones that include FM radio have also been distributed. FM radios and mobile phones are seen as being among the most important means of communication particularly in the rural communities. Television is widely available but dependent on access to adequate electricity supply.
